Theater appliance.



Patented Feb. I3, i900.

I. M. FULLER.

THEATER APPLIANCE.

[Apphcatxox filed Nov 10, 1899) (No Model.)

NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

IDA MAY FULLER, or EoREsT CITY, IOWA;

SPECIFICATION arming pere of Lettere Patent 110,643,493, aerea February i3, 190e. Application filed November 10, 1899. Serial No. 736,558. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern).-

Beit known that I, IDA MAY FULLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Forest City, in the county of Winnebago and State of Iowa, have invented a new and Improved Stage Appliance, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of the invention is to provide means whereby the effect of a erce fire may be produced upon a stage or wherever else desired without the possibility of injury to the surroundings or to any person appearing to be in the midst of the flames and apparently handling the tongues of fire or moving in close proximity thereto.

Another object of the invention is to provide means whereby the coloring of the illusory flames may be quickly and conveniently changed at will during an act without the color-changing medium being visible from any portion of the auditorium, including the galleries, although the portion of the stage at which the display is made'may be visible to all of the audience.

Another object of the invention is to provide a smoke effectthrough the same medium employed to furnish the representation of dames, and, furthermore, to provide an illusion representing individual tongues of flames, any one of which tongues may be separated from it fellows and when released will automatically return to an upright position and again form a part of the volume of illusory fire.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all thel figures.

Figure 1 isa perspective view of a stage, parts being broken away, illustrating the application of the appliance. Fig. 2 is a vertical'section through that portion of the stage at which the illusory fire is produced, showing the streamers employed in upright position, also illustrating a portion of the apparatus employed for illuminating the streamers and maintaining them upright. Fig. 3 is a plan view of that portion of the stage at which the illusory fire is produced,the streamiers being removed; and Fig. 4c is a detail view illustrating the manner in which the streamers are attached to their supports.

A represents the stage-floor, and B a plat-Y form or door beneath the stage, asuitable space intervening between the two. The stage A is provided with an opening, at which opening a gridiron or screen 10 is secured, serving as a partial cover for said opening. This gridiron or screen is preferably made of wire, the wire and meshes being coarse, and preferably a shield in the shape of a vertical flange 1l is placed at the front and sides of the opening in the stage-floor at which the gridiron or screen 10 is located.

Strips 12 of a translucent or a transparent fabric are employed, the said strips being preferably tapering, although they may be given any desired shape, and these strips have loops 13 formed at their lower ends, which loops receive the wires of the gridiron or screen 10, as shown in Fig. 2. These strips 12 are of a color approximating the color of a flame-- as, for example, they may be of a dark-red color, a light red, or a salmon color, or may be of any intermediate shade-and, if desired, some of the strips may be colored dierently from the others or of various shades. These strips are entirely free above the point to which they are attached and are capable of waving, fluttering, or curling when subjected to a suitably-directed blast of air. This blast of airis produced through the medium of fans 13a of any desired character; but the fans usually employed are electrically operated. The fans are shown as three in number, although a greater or a less number may be employed. These fans are arranged in a single group, and their axes are inclined toward each other. The center of this space is practically in vertical alinement with the central portion of the gridiron or screen 10, to which the streamers or strips 12 are secured. The fans are mounted upon a suitable base 15, being pivotally connected with the base, so that the position of the fans may be changed as may be found necessary to direct the streamers 12 in a proper direction. For example, the p0- sition of the fans may be changed so that the volume of the streamers may be carried to IOO one side or the other or to the front or to the rear, or the fans may be so adjusted that the streamers will be given a vertical position.

In the drawings the electric fans are shown as supplied with electricity through the medium of suitably-connected wires 14, leading from any source of electric supply. I desire it to be understood that the streamers 12 are placed sufficiently close together to collectively form a column or volume of strips when the strips are under the influence of the airsupply; but the spaces between the said strips are sufliciently great to permit each individual strip to wave independently in front of or at the back or side of an adjacent strip.

The illusion of tire is produced by directing rays of light upward through the screen or gridiron and upon and through the mass of waving strips 12. This light is usually supplied through the medium of an arc light, the connections 16 whereof only are shown in the drawings, and this lamp is located Within a casing 17, located below the stage and below the gridiron or screen 10, and the said casing, whose inner face is preferably a reflecting-surface, is inclined in a manner to direct the light to the central portion of the screen or gridiron 10. Various colors or shades of color may be imparted to the light supplied to the strips or streamers, thus indieating the changes of colors in aleaping flame, and this change of colors is obtained by passing a frame 1S over the top of the casing 17 of a light, which frame contains a transparent suitably-colored pane 19 of glass, gelatin, or a similar material.

While guides are provided for the colored screens 18, I prefer to operate these screens by hand, simply passing them to and fro over the top of the casing 17 of the light. Under this arrangement an operator may hold a screen of one color in one hand and a screen of another color in the other hand and alternately pass them over the light or carry the two in the path of the light whenever desired, and in this manner changes may be more rapidly made than when guides are provided for these color-screens.

I produce a smoke effect preferably by either darkly coloring the edges of sundry of the strips 12, as shown at 12 in Fig. 4, or by attaching to the longitudinal edges of sundry of the main strips 12 a strip of very dark smoke or slate color, and usually these additional strips are applied to the outermost strips 12 of the series, as is likewise the additional coloring when employed.

The effect of sparks is obtained by introducing small bits of papel', cardboard, or the like 20, suitably colored, between the currents of air and the screen or gridiron, whereupon the said currents of air will carry these small pieces of colored material up through the meshes of the gridiron, and as soon as they are freed from the iniiuence of the airblast the said pieces will fall to the stage, where their smooth surfaces and glittering color will continue to sparkle when the light is turned on or changed on the screen or gridiron. The whole eifect described is preferably produced when the room or apartment is darkened to a greater or a less degree.

' Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 1. In stage appliances, an open-work base, streamers attached to said base, and means for directing currents of air to the base and for illuminating streamers through the base.

2. In stage appliances, a foraminated structure, streamers connected thereto, fans beneath the foraminated structure, arranged to concentrate air-currents thereon, and an illu.- minating device the delivery whereof is directed to the aforesaid foraminated structure.

3. In stage appliances, a foraminated structure, streamers connected at one end to the said structure, fans grouped beneath the foraminated structure, having their axes inclined in direction of each other and the center of said structure, supports on which the fans are adjustably mounted, a refiector inclined in direction of the central portion of the foraminated structure, and a light within the said reflector.

4. In stage appliances, aforaminated structure, streamer-s connected at one end to the said structure, fans grouped beneath the foraminated structure, said fans being in circular arrangement and having their axes inclined in direction of each other and the center of said structure, supports upon which the fans are adjustably mounted, a reflector inclined in direction of the central portion of the foraminated structure, a light within the said reiiector, and colored screens adapted to be passed over the said reflector, enabling the light directed to the streamers to be changed in color or shade at the will of the operator.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

IDA MAY FULLER.

IVitnesses:

J. FRED. ACKEP., JNO. M. RITTER.

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